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Q1 2014 North America email trend results: Epsilon finds open rates up 5.7% over last year while click rates remain steady

Dallas, TX — July 16, 2014 — Epsilon, the global leader in helping clients create customer connections that build brand and business equity, and Email Institute, the Epsilon-powered email marketing best practices destination, released the Q1 2014 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks report. According to the report, triggered messages accounted for 3.8% of total email volume in Q1, 15.3% higher than this time last year.

Triggered messages continue to outperform their Business as Usual (BAU) counterparts in both open and click rates. The report found that triggered open rates were 64.5% higher than BAU open rates in Q1 2014. In addition the report found that triggered email click rates were 160.3% higher than BAU this quarter, an increase of the 116.9% lift over BAU seen in Q1 of last year.

“For the past few years we’ve seen email open rates increase while click rates remain steady,” said Judy Loschen, Vice President of Digital Analytics at Epsilon. “This can be attributed to email marketers’ ability to reach consumers at the optimal time and on the optimal device. Today, time of delivery should be viewed in terms of device of open. By using this type of data, brands can reach consumers at the time they’re mostly likely to click on a marketing email.”

Triggered Message Email Trends Triggered message benchmarks are compiled from more than 234 million triggered emails sent from January 2014 to March 2014 across multiple industries. Results track campaigns deployed as a result of an action or trigger such as Welcome, Thank You, Abandon Shopping Cart or Confirmation.

Triggered Highlights:

Triggered messages accounted for 3.8% of total email volume in Q1 2014, 15.3% higher than Q1 of last year (3.3%).

Triggered open rates were 64.5% higher than BAU open rates in Q1 2014, an increase from Q1 2013 when there was a 60.8% lift over BAU.

Triggered email click rates were 160.3% higher than BAU in Q1, an increase of the 116.9% lift over BAU seen in Q1 2013.

Business As Usual Email Trends The quarterly analysis is compiled from 6.2 billion emails sent by Epsilon in January to March of 2014 across multiple industries and approximately 140 participating clients. The analysis combines data from Epsilon’s proprietary platforms.

BAU Highlights:

Open rates reached 32.9% in Q1 2014, a 5.7% increase over last year (Q1 2013).

Click rates have remained consistent the previous four quarters. In Q1 2014, clicks rates were 4.3%.

Non-bounce rates also remained consistent at 96.4% in Q1 2014.

For more information and industry-specific benchmarks, the Q1 2014 Email Trends and Benchmark report is available at Q4 email benchmarks report.